A Winged Masquerade [one x one]

[Rivkah]

Kane had to admit he was taken aback by her words. "You... you don't know how to read?" he asked in shock and disbelief. He couldn't possibly imagine what it would be like to not be able to read or write. He would probabbly go insane. "That's obscene. Everyone should have a chsnce to learn," he blurted out, begore finally adding, "I will teach you." Grinning earnestly, he tilted his head, watching her wistful attitude.

The Winged was once again shocked, taken off guard by her gentle touch and kindness. "No, no," he said quickly as she stepped backward. He stood, hand gently resting on her elbow to stop her. "There is no need to apologize, all of that servant ettiquite is foolish anyways. The only manners you need is basic things like please and thank you," he told her cheerfully. "I do not mind your compassion in the least." He stepped a bit closer, face flushing scarlet. "Thank you for the compliments, though I doubt it." His brown eyes studied Rose and he then smiled warmly, guiding her to sit back down with him.

"My top priority is now to teach you to the read. Can you meet me here tomorrow morning, around ten o'clock?" His eyes widened in a schoolboy jubilance, and he gazed upon her features earnestly. His face fell a bit as she told him it did not make sense to her, but Kane was not discouraged. "I can teach you about that, too, Rose. You deserve a proper education. You are a bright young woman." He smiled politely, taking a nervous step back and removing his hand from her arm.

[rose;]

Rose frowned, looking down and almost ashamed of herself when he asked so bluntly. "No, I do not, sir," she mumbled, feeling as if he were looking down at her for it, perhaps laughing inside because she could not make any sense of the things printed on a piece of paper. It was why she was often entrusted with private notes between the mistresses and their lovers off in other parts of the castle, because if she couldn't read their secrets then she could not repeat them, and if she did not know if they were something she should report or not she could not do it. Do it wrongly and she would be punished. "I was never given the chance," she said in her own defense, feeling as if she really did need to justify it.

At the mention of being taught, she sucked in a breath, eyes widening and a smile spreading over her features in a heartbeat. "You would?" She asked breathlessly. "You would do that for me? For a servant?" The questions tumbled from her mouth unbidden, and she quickly bit down on her lip to prevent them from becoming any more, and to allow him to speak also. "There is a reason they are there, though," she said seriously, almost gravely even. She said it softly, and almost instantly hoped he hadn't heard it. He might question why she had said it, and she could not explain that to him.

Her attention then drifted to his hand at her arm, wondering over it and thinking it over much too hard. She gave a soft sigh when he asked her to meet him the next morning, chewing on her lip. "But, my duties..." She mumbled, but it was in vain, for she would most certainly agree with him if he asked even once more. Rose wanted desperately to learn, and then she could come here, to read and find these... Fairy tales he spoke of. And to understand how it all worked? How that bug might grow into something beautiful, how plants grew... Well, that was an amazing prospect. She had always longed to know, always envied the girls that went to school, never understand how they could come home and complain about it. "I would love it if you would teach me- I would forever be in your debt," she said softly. "But I cannot risk getting yelled at... I do not like it at all when they do..."

[Rivkah]

The young man clicked his tongue to the roof of his mouth disapprovingly. "If I could, I would tutor every servant here. They aren't all mine, however. You are my responsibility, though, and nothing anyone says can stop me from teaching you." His wings fluttered and twitched, and Kane gazed down at her with a warm smile. He then added sadly, "I can also let you go, too. It's sad to think you are doing things you hate and paid so little, if anything at all. That's more like slavery." He then cleared his throat and his smile returned. "But I won't talk of that. My priority is to teach you."

His brow creased the moment she spoke of the duties, knowing she meant those wretched Winged women. "Nonsense," he said, a bit more sharply and curtly than he meant to. His gaze then softened and he murmured, "you are my only servant. It is only because I have no need for someone else to do my work for me that they have the loopholes to boss you about. But being taught and working with your caterpillar and the gardening are what I want done from you. If I give you daily tasks like this their demands are invalid."

He grinned roguishly. "I shall neglect you no longer, Miss Rose. They so much as order you about, I will remind them they are guests in my families home and that you are employed by myself, no one else." He offered her his arm. "I need some company." he admitted softly. "You already know I am a loner. My dear friend only comes once a week as she lives farther away. So, as she is not due until a few days in the future and she only comes at night, you can spend your days with me. Learning from and working for me." He inclined his head, winking in a childish, friendly manner.

[rose;]

Just barely was Rose able to hold her tongue and not ask him- demand of him more like- why he didn't just let her go, but she knew that the question would not be well received, even if he wasn't like the others. But it did pester her to no end- was it out of pity? our of pue selfishness and loneliness? Did he really consider it fair, or did her perhaps think that she was better off here than she would be somewhere else, working for someone else. She supposed that was a good reason, but she still wanted to ask, to just clear her mind of all doubt. "You would do that? For all of us?" she asked, a soft amazement to her tone.

A flinch caused Rose to look down, not quite liking the sharp, abrupt tone he used. That usually meant trouble for her, and she really had no desire to be getting in trouble at the moment. The day had been going so well... She looked up hesitantly however, biting her bottom lip before nodding slowly. Well, if that was what he wished then that was what she would do, without complaint. If the girls continued to bark at her then she would just have to do her best to do their work and the work he wanted her to do, not wanting to cause him any more trouble than unnecessary.

Deciding not to argue about it any longer, the servant girl sat down slowly in the chair, reaching out for the book he had before, running her hands over the cover and opening it to stare down at the colors inside. The pictures were absolutely beautiful, and Rose found herself wanting more than ever to know what they said. "Do we have to wait until tomorrow?' she asked eagerly, looking up with bright eyes. It wasn't getting too late yet...

[Rivkah]

The young man chuckled, a bit taken aback by her surprise. "Of course! I feel there is nothing greater that a person, no matter what their race, should have than knowledge. Everyone should have an equal chance. They used to, before I was born, before you were too. Way long ago, people of all social statuses were required to get educations. That's what I've read, anyway. It's so much more different now." He bit his lip, shaking his head before sitting down same as she did. Her enthusiasm was adorable, but he was afraid he was making her doubt him far too much.

"No, we don't have to wait," he said gently. He took out some parchment from inside the desk and two pens. "Do you know your letters?" he asked gently. "If not, we can start with that." Handing her a pen and leaving her to decide which of her hands was dominant, he wrote in small, neat print the letters of the alphabet, lower case and uppercase. He then wrote "Kane" and "Rose" next to each other under that. "There are lots of horribly complicated rules and grammar when it comes to writing, but I won't burden you with all that yet," he said in a quiet, understanding tone that all teachers should have. "So, all you need to know now is that names of places and people have to have a large, or uppercase, letter instead of a small letter as the first one. The rest are smaller, or lowercase. Have you got that?"

He grinned weakly at her, then murmured, "All the letters have their own sound, but some share the sounds of others, which can be confusing. 'A', the first letter, has different sounds, one being the one its name makes. That type of 'a' is the one used in my name," he said cheerfully. He then pointed to the 'e's on both of their names. "'E' has its own sounds as well, including the one it makes, but usually if it's on the end of the word, it's silent, is just showing you that the sound the other vowel, a, e, i, o, u, or y, isn't short. Like your name is 'Rose' instead of 'Ros', which sounds like it has an 'a' instead of an 'o'." He then hesitated. "I hope I'm not going too fast for you?" he prompted worriedly. "I know it's a lot to remember."

[rose;]

All Rose could do was stare at him before shaking her head. He had read all this? He knew all this from the books? It was all there? It seemed quite amazing that something that was so long ago could have lasted the test of time just in a book, simple bound pages that burned so easily, tore easily, became unintelligible after getting wet... So easily ruined, yet so hardy at the same time. It just didn't make sense, and yet the proof was right in front of her.

When he handed her a pen she held it awkwardly, much as you'd expect someone being handed it for the first time would hold it. She tried her left hand first, after observing how Kane held his, but it felt very awkward, and when she changed to her right, it fell right into place, making her smile. So maybe this wouldn't be too hard after all.

Well, that thought went out the door the moment he wrote out all the letters. There seemed to be so many! All so odd looking and strange to her eyes. She looked to him with wide eyes and tried to absorb what he was saying, letting out a slow breath as he explained everything. "Do you think it will be easier or harder for me trying to learn now? At my age?" she asked, before falling silent and puzzling over what he had said. Slowly, she nodded, giving a soft sigh. "I think I do..." she mumbled. "I mean... Well, I don't have any questions anyway."

[Rivkah]

Kane smiled kindly. "Many people learn at a later age. The only trick is it will be harder because you won't be taught the letters as you learn the words. But it's alright. I'll get you some books and things to help you begin once we learn the letters, and once you master the basics of it I'll show you the many different grammatical rules." He put his hand on her shoulder and said kindly, "Don't be ashamed that you can't read. Many Winged girls are so-called 'schooled' yet hardly know how to read themselves simply because they don't care. But you do, and you're a quick learner, so it will be easy."

He handed the parchment to her. "Below my writing, copy all the letters I wrote. As you write them, I'll tell you their names and explain what category they fall under - vowel or consonants. Consonants make blunt sounds, and vowels make sounds such as 'ay', 'ee', 'oo', things like that. Consonants would be sound like kuh. You'll get it as you learn their names." He watched her as she got comfortable with her 0ominant hand, and sat back.

Kane was the patient type of person, and very enthusiastic about getting her to learn to read and write. Sure she may have doubts about it at first, but it was his mission to get her to learn how to read. Knowledge was an important tool, and if you could not read you could not gain knowledge. Besides that, he believed that books were an escape and a luxury that even those not as wealthy as his family could afford. He would not let Rose remain ignorant, because that would be selfish of him, to hoard his books for himself.

[rose;]

Rose looked up to study him as he talked, nodding slowly. "Okay," she agreed softly, wondering how it really would affect things. She saw how it could make things easier- she knew words, she knew how to make sentences, and she knew the sounds letters made, but then again, she felt silly. This didn't come naturally to her, as it seemed to come to the little kids with their large, scrawly handwriting. However, how comfortable the pencil felt in her hand gave her reassurance, and took a deep breath, trying to assure herself that she could do this.

Setting the pen on the paper, Rose began to carefully copy the letters, each line precise and careful. There were a few that gave her trouble, as she wasn't sure in what order the lines came, but she soon began to realize that it didnt matter, and the lines could come in any order that felt right. she tipped her head to the side to better listen to what he was saying about each letter, repeated the sounds to herself softly, trying to connect the letter name to the sound to the image. When she had gotten through the list once, Rose started on it again, determined to have at least a few letters down by the next day. she wanted to work to be the most diligent student she could so that Kane did not get frustrated with her or think that he was simply wasting his time.

However, only two letters in and the servant girl was having troubles. she puzzled over her paper, the letter written but she was unable to recall if it was a vowel or consonant. The first two she had gotten, but this one...? she remembered that it made two sounds, but beyond that... "Kane, I don't remember," she said miserably with a sigh. "I don't even remember if it's a vowel or a con... Consa..." She shook her head, unable to even say the word he had kept using that meant it wasn't a vowel. "It makes the same sound as a K and another letter but I can't remember..." The girl looked so distraught over this simple fact, her head in her hands, that it was clear she thought there was a lot resting on this.

[Rivkah]

He leaned over as he saw that she was having trouble. Upon seeing it, he chuckled. "Ah, yes, a 'c'. It's a consonant, but it mimics both the 's' and the 'k' so it's one of the harder letters when spelling a word." He gently took his pencil and drew it for her, pleased at how she repetitively copied the lines in order to get them down. He then said gently, "Don't worry if you don't get it correct the first time. That's why you practice. Becoming good at writing takes long, even for those who have known it since a young age. Even those older than us struggle with it. Some are just better than others, I suppose."

Putting a gentle hand on her shoulder, he smiled warmly, winking teasingly. "We're not all geniuses. If you don't understand something, don't be ashamed. I'll help you work it out. We have all the time in the world, after all, as many days as needed to help you learn how to read and write." He grabbed a new piece of paper for when she finished writing on the current parchment. Clearing his throat, he smiled at her and murmured, "I suppose I should teach you the names of all the letters in order."

He pointed to the first one. "That's 'A', a vowel. It makes the 'ah' and 'ay' sounds - fairly easy, and one of the most common vowels, like in my name, 'Kane." He smiled gently, pleasant as always. She could think what she wanted, but he thought there was nothing more worthwhile than teaching her how to read and write, one step at a time. Being able to pass on your knowledge to someone - anyone - was a great honor in his eyes, and he wanted to be the best mentor possible.

[rose;]

Rose scowled ever so slightly when he took the pencil away from her. She could do it, it wasn't the shape of the word that she was having trouble with after all. "Yes, I remember now..." she mumbled, shaking her head. "Seems like I'll be those that aren't so great at it," she mumbled, not meaning to have said it out loud. "Don't seem to be very good at anything else..." Rose didn't even notice that she's said it out loud, only thinking she'd probably had quite the scowl on her expression and that she'd thought it.

Actually, the girl had a lot of thoughts like that, but she didn't like to voice them at all. She heard the winged girls complaining all the time about how they were ugly, how they were fat, how they just weren't good enough, and considering how much it annoyed her she wouldn't become the same. She had reasons to complain however, more than just feeling inadequate, but those seemed to be the ones most prominent. She felt so ugly compared to those girls with beautiful wings, so incomparable to everyone around. However, she didn't want to be that annoying girl who complained about it constantly.

Roes sighed softly, taking the pencil back and starting to copy the letters once more. "A..." she repeated softly after him, going down the line of each letter and repeating after him. It was a mindless task, which made it easy for her to bear the presence of someone so close to her, how've ring. Usually it would have made her very uncomfortable, but now it was not so bad. She could focus on the writing, not him, not what he thought.